USNWR Rankings Released...Seriously Forum

[clseller]

BU 22 to 20. I'll still attend if it's my best option. It's a good school right?

[leraa6587]

BU 22 to 20. I'll still attend if it's my best option. It's a good school right?

It's amazing. My friend went there and had a wonderful pick of offers (she's a 2L now). She was in the top 10-20% there, however.

[thickfreakness]

BU 22 to 20. I'll still attend if it's my best option. It's a good school right?

Honestly, any school on that first page is a good school. Whether or not I would attend many of them without scholarships, however, is a vastly different question.

Yeah T12 are probably the only ones worth sticker. hehe

[Rock Chalk]

.

[clseller]

I have until Thursday 5 PM PST to get to the post office and send in a postmarked seat deposit to BU. My financial aid package is supposedly in the mail.

[Geist13]

I don't want to look all the way through, but has anyone else noticed that Emory's employment percentage dropped from 96.7% at graduation to 95.3% at nine months after graduation?

[honestabe84]

Someone comment on Penn State please...

who cares about a new building?

and it should keep going up because it has a good name? hasn't it always had the same name? why would that make a year to year difference, if it even mattered?

i think people might've been being nice by not responding...

+1

A new building especially means nothing. A building does not make a school good. The median LSAT/GPA of the student body, the faculty, and the employment statistics are what matters.

[leraa6587]

I can look up every school's scores and placement rates on my own, but I can't visit every law school. So yes, I am saying an additional ranking by USNWR or some other agency would be helpful, it's not like any ranking system is the be all end all.

True, but quality of student body, employment prospects, and reputation of an institution definitely mean a lot. If the methodology was as subjective as you suggest, the rankings would be infinitely more meaningless. Using these transparent criteria, GW beats Emory time and time again, but you insist that Emory's better. At least US News tells us why they insist a school is better, what are your criteria?

Hotter girls, I'm going there haha. Kidding, without nit-picking the stats, Emory has been on the rise quite dramatically in recent years, and after visiting, it is easy to see why. It doesn't have the recognition or reputation that GW has yet, but I see that changing in the next 10 years. I think when it is seen as a real, consistent contender for the top 20 people will stop knocking it so much. I'm confident it will break the top 20 soon, as its placement stats and LSAT median continue to increase. They were very aware of the rankings there, and very eager to do anything possible to rise in the rankings. Fortunately for us, this means throwing a lot of great stuff our way.

My argument for a subjective quantifier in rankings is that when you get to the Top 30, every school is great (blah blah blah t14 we've heard it all before, it's implied. I thought I'd say that before everyone attacks me on that one without understanding my point first). If there were some sort of independent research done on schools of this caliber, it could more effectively help students choose the best place for them, not necessarily based on numbers. Your school has 99% placement upon graduation? Great, but it still doesn't mean you'll just be literally handed employment. The Vault has the only thing even close to this, but what I want is an unbiased third party reviewing the school, not a student who obviously loved the school and went there and possibly received money to coerce them.

[doomed123]

Washington Lee falls...again.
Out of the top 30 in fact. Their continual slide is somewhat worrying.

It's amazing to think that W&L was the in T20 just a few years ago.

Just goes to show how volatile (and therefore meaningless) the rankings are from 20-ish to 30-ish.

[whuts4lunch]

Not a good year for MO. Mizzou dropped to the 90's and SLU is completely out of the top 100.

Think this may have an effect on a WashU degree's value in Missouri (I don't think it will, but I enjoy overanalyzing)

[Son of Cicero]

Updated the first post...hopefully this makes the thread a little easier to navigate (and minimizes newcomers' accidental exposure to the whining of butthurt trolls).

[leraa6587]

I don't want to look all the way through, but has anyone else noticed that Emory's employment percentage dropped from 96.7% at graduation to 95.3% at nine months after graduation?

I did see that. If you get a job and lose it, that's your own fault lol. Seriously though, I think it has to do with what Emory is going through now. Every year (or most years), Emory becomes a more national school, like any school that can consistently hold their t25 or higher ranking. With the economy as it is, I wouldn't be surprised if the students that took risks to move out further away lost their jobs. More likely than this scenario, many firms made offers of employment and had to rescind them or prolong the waiting period between law school and their start date.

[ruleser]

I would bet W and L is pretty steamed/bummed to have this come out 2 days before deposit deadline.

Funny to see their Ivy League like employed at graduation numbers - then scroll over to their bar passage (79%) which is lower than T2's like Loyola...

[sanpiero]

ASU finally in its rightful place higher than U of A, jumping from 55 to 38! Feeling a lot better about my 1L investment

[leraa6587]

Washington Lee falls...again.
Out of the top 30 in fact. Their continual slide is somewhat worrying.

It's amazing to think that W&L was the in T20 just a few years ago.

Just goes to show how volatile (and therefore meaningless) the rankings are from 20-ish to 30-ish.

This is another school that is seriously underrated and I don't understand why it's dropping. I can understand how it doesn't compare to the t20 anymore, but really, another dramatic fall? This is ridiculous for such a great school.

[Torvon]

Lol @ NU having a lower peer assessment score than GULC and Cornell

[leraa6587]

How many people do you think changed the name on the check today? All this will only provide for an even more dramatic finish to an already volatile cycle.

[YCrevolution]

..

[DVZfan]

Lol @ NU having a lower peer assessment score than GULC and Cornell

Yeah that really sucks for NU and it has not been able to really escape that for a very long time!

[09042014]

Lol @ NU having a lower peer assessment score than GULC and Cornell

Yeah that really sucks for NU and it has not been able to really escape that for a very long time!

Replying via your old is weak Gulc 0L.

[Sauer Grapes]

--ImageRemoved--
Also, is this subtle USC trolling? Why is there a gap between them and the pack that follows?

It's a visual representation of the USNWR scores. There is a gap because there is a score gap.

Maybe I should be more clear: The gap between USC and the pack that follows is larger than every other 1 point score gap, while USC and WUSTL are indeed separated by 1 point. I'm asking why this is.

+1. Not so subtle USC trolling.

[YCrevolution]

..

[Torvon]

Lol @ NU having a lower peer assessment score than GULC and Cornell

Yeah that really sucks for NU and it has not been able to really escape that for a very long time!

Replying via your old is weak Gulc 0L.

You're probably right, we should trust TLS over peer assessments anyway.

[sibley]

JEFF. Jeff who are you on here? I LOVE that you posted that. I'm totally flipping out
(also, not a shock that Syracuse jumped. I was in Seligman's class last year and I remember a few girls getting hugeeeee schollies... like, including living expenses) for having good stats (but not like, pleaseeee-pick-us-over-harvard stats)

[09042014]

Lol @ NU having a lower peer assessment score than GULC and Cornell

Yeah that really sucks for NU and it has not been able to really escape that for a very long time!

Replying via your old is weak Gulc 0L.

You're probably right, we should trust TLS over peer assessments anyway.

We could go by placement at elite firms, placement in the NLJ 250, or law clerk placement if you'd like. Or you can go by a survey of what other Dean's think of a school. That is your choice.